LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17145, 26 April 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

te/V: BT HKRCOTIO. ?$± A vary broad him has been given that unless coal 6 applies are increased Auck- '§ land may have to go to bed early this £ winter. It is a cheerful outlook to be ? • fold that the gas may be cut off soon after the evening meal. Still there is no '. laying how healthy, and wealthy, and wise the people might be after they had experienced a winter of it. But why not begin with the unnecessary light, such a/ this all-night shop window, the electros rign. and simiiar economic© which c<rjld be enforced without much to anybody. When water is scarce * okase is issued against the garden none, l'lie game sort of prohibition might in emergency be applied to the superfluous use of light with a better chance of catching the offenders, A request has been made by the Town Clerk of Auckland, that house number* should be placed upon gate poets or other positions visible from the street. The reasonableness of the proposal is manifest, and wherever necessary, tho suggested alteration should be made while (ia matter is fresh in mind— afternoon's holiday should afford the opportunity. But what of those districts, streets and houses which have not been numberedfoT the indexing of residences' is in varions degrees of imperfection in the 4 vity and its suburbs. There are many Jcbnrban streets, built upon every section, Ocking this convenient means of address. gn that every invitation to a visitor or order to a tradesman must be accompanied by an elaborate identification of the particular house. Of course the deficiency B often remedied by the substitution of a name-plate, but these portal decorations •re expensive, and many citizens are too modest or estimate their social status too humbly to venture upon such embellishments. Consequently to proceed directly to one of these houses, one must have a fair knowledge of map-reading a retentive memory and a facility in observation sufficient to distinguish a newly painted bouse with two flower beds in the front lawn, from an older dwelling boasting only a telephone wire and no latch on tho gate.

There mast have been a great deal of oriosity excited by the explanation furnished by returning soldiers of tho heavy veto for continuance among the New Zealand troops overseas, They do not profess hostility towards prohibition as much as resent/ment that the poll was taken while they were absent from the dominion. It was generally supposed that the soldiers would be satisfied if they were able to vote, but apparently they desired also to take an active pit in tie preliminary controversy. This view is expressed clearly by some of the men who returned by the "Maheno— their long absence "prevented them from seeing the issue in the litrht in which it was presented to the average elector." If that fairly represents tho soldiors' view, their vote may he taken as a plea for the maintenance of existing conditions until tiey have an opportunity to consider the subject— the aid of all the information rircnlated during the campaign. The result of the polling among soldiers in New Zealand should be a measure of the impression made by the rival propaganda.

In a case arising out of the licensing poll Mr. Wilson, S.M., questioned the advisability of permitting partisan committees to work outside polling booths. These committees have, to some people, an official appearance, but nn/ortunatel ,* their actions are not always strictly judicial. It may cot be the popular view, hut " Mercutio" join:, the magistrate heartily in saving away with them. Nor need we stop there. To what end all this drumming up of votes, the inquisitive canvasser fishing for information in forbidden waters, and motor-cars driving reluctant voters to the poll? Why not let the partisans spend their energy in expounding their case, and let the voter make up his mind and vote according to his convictions or, if he has do convictions, stay at home. It is surely better so than that he should vote according to some other person's instructions. There are people who tell us that everybody should be compelled to vote or be fined for neglect. What folly! If a man's mind is a blank, what good can he do by making a mark on a ballot paper? If democracy is going to give a sane expression of its opinion, it will not be by driving its least interested and least informed units to the polling booth and telling them how to vote. Let's teach them till they value the vote sufficiently to see that their names are on the roll and to go of their own free will to record their yea or nay. As for the others, is it not as well that they should stay at home until they learn.!

It is said that some Napier hotelkeepers had arranged to start liquor selling on a vessel anchored somewhere just beyond foe three-mile limit, if prohibition had been carried. Rather an aetata idea, and nc doubt there would in suramar weather be a good many thirsty people willing to qualify as " bona fide " travellers. But wiat if a passport were required to leave tie Dominion with your wife's consent and full details of the colour of your hair and your eyes, a statement of the birthplace of your paternal grandfather, and a complete account of why you were leaving New Zealand and when you intended to come back. You might have to start the application in midwinter to have any chance of getting a drink about the New I ear.

The 'anxiety of the Mount Eden Borough Count that Anzac Day should be observed ad a whole holiday will be appreciated by all who realise what the Landing means to New Zealanders, but the council's suggestion of a remedy is not a very happy one. Instead of changing Anzac Day to the date of St. George's Day, would it not be infinitely better to observe St. George's Day on April 25. or alternatively to drop it altogether and maks Anzae Day tne public holiday. St. George's Day has little meaning to the average New Zealander. All that it might convey is for us contained much more fully in Anzac Day. If any date is to be changed, let it not be that of the never-to-be-forgotten Landing.

For many i?aders of the daily papers, I one of the most interesting columns of the paper is that devoted to " personal" advertisements. It supplies the touch of romance which is often lacking from the Dews of the day, and although the authors. of its appeals and protestations conceal ; their identity, their anonymity encourages them to a frankness of expression which is delightful to those who find entertainment m speculating upon the affairs of their neighbours. Thus the exchange of affectionate greetings in the " friends column'' of the newspaper brings pleasure to a wider company than could tie reached by a letter thr ngh" the post. And if the Customary two-hue advertisement has such an aimrih!» inffu' nee, what will be tha retuit if it is generally expanded into Verse, pii-h as one advertisement this Week? The gentleman who apostrophised his laiiv in Mich gai'.ant stra:n seems to have set a new stand:>.id Will the young people in fntuT bo content with messages corit'cnsr i is t! • rih for telegraphing, or will nt i!* :.id i•• also look for rhymed addresses, and their admirers feci constrain* J to pi.,-- their skill in poesy? Dps interoati. 'a! courtesy or appreciation of -r-.-i a!y require ns to pass Japantse warships into our harbours without medical p-p.-cti-n i.r without quarantine' sh mid su-ii be necessary Certa nly sot. The Mirrsfer f r Public Health need Dot have ties,' itcd when the question was put to him II ha* 1.e..,, said of Sydney that had Kins (.'iconic himself arrived on a tu.'peeiod ship, he would have had to take his statelier in uarantine nod be content for a time This miirht well ho Kew Zealand's answer to the Japanese. We will be -'ail in see toe Japanese ships and naval m.-1. hut tiw ir..u=t not expert ts to tr.ke dnjir »- :••«''.« because of sum.' foolish not' ns respecting the courtesies cue to then.